'Power to the people': Let's nationalise Australia's grid, Greens say

The Greens want to renationalise Australia’s electricity system and make the poles and wires publically owned again.

The Greens have announced a new policy aimed at bringing Australia's electricity distribution, transmission and interconnectors under government hands, with climate change and energy spokesman Adam Bandt outlining a plan to regain control of the assets through a gradual transition to public ownership.

“We will start the move to full public ownership with the acquisition of the privately held interconnectors,” Mr Bandt said.

The Greens are calling for the poles and wires to be under government control.Credit:Daniel Kalisz

“As we’ve seen in recent times, these are vital pieces of national critical infrastructure that underpin the reliability and stability of the grid and they should be run for public benefit.”

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The policy launch comes only a day after the federal government announced it will tighten rules around future foreign ownership of Australian electricity assets.

The majority of Australia’s interconnectors – the systems that export and import excess energy between states – are in foreign hands.

Out of the six interconnectors across the National Electricity Market, five are either owned or partly controlled by foreign companies.

Of the distribution networks, Energy Queensland, Ausgrid, Essential Energy, Endeavour Energy, TasNetworks and Aurora Energy are wholly Australian owned; Victoria Power Networks – comprising Citipower and Powercor- and SA Power Networks have Hong Kong firm Cheung Kong Infrastructure as a major shareholder, while Singapore Power is a major shareholder in Jemena, ActewAGL/Evo Energy, and United Energy.

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“It’s time for Labor and Liberal to finally admit that privatisation of the grid has been a failure,” Mr Bandt said.

“The current system is a rort designed by and for big corporations. Instead of using public funds to build our network more cheaply and efficiently, customers are forced to bankroll the profits of big corporations, Cayman Island companies and the investment arms of other governments.”

Economist Professor John Quiggin said the current system is dysfunctional and nationalisation could be one way to bring it back to normality.

However, Grattan Institute energy director Tony Wood said nationalisation could lead to higher prices for energy.

“I think the evidence is that the cost of distribution would be higher,” Mr Wood said.

“Privately-owned businesses have produced better results, so why would you put it back in the hands of the public?”

The Greens said while there is the potential to trigger Section S.51 of the Constitution to renationalise the assets, the party prefers to work cooperatively with businesses.

It aims to slash the guaranteed rate of return, which is a maximum allowable commercial revenue collectable by the regulated distribution networks.

The Greens also called for additional interconnectors, which could cost around $500 million, to be built by the Commonwealth government.

“We would start by connecting South Australia and NSW, enabling South Australian renewables to help power NSW, which is increasingly vulnerable from unreliable coal,” Mr Bandt said.

“It’s time to return power to the people by putting the electricity grid back in public hands.”